2020 Our Year For Sure

Thanks for the heads up! Gotta fire up the DVR for this one

This. How can a person who has gone through that have such a positive outlook? To feel no anger toward the shooter. What an amazing story

Cowherd is good for comedy, funny dude. Just don't take him seriously and you'll be fine

Don't forget Merriman! Not a huge impact yesterday but still an important cog. Wannstedt too is making a HUGE difference in this defense that is immeasurable.

Manning I'll miss. Not Marcia.

Chucky has quickly become one of my favorite color guys. ESPN gets a big for putting he and Jaws together.

Anything to pick up a Bills fan

Chiefs -5.5

-Schefter

JP isn't a part of it because we all know he's stronger than these three. Notice Jim Kelly is similarly absent

Defensively we need to focus on stopping the run as many have said and will say, but we also need to play the secondary back and take away the deep pass. With regard to Jason Campbell, think a competent version of JP Losman. He is an average starting quarterback at best but he throws a tremendous deep ball, and has a cannon. Pair that with Jacoby Ford and Heyward-Bay on the outside and this is a team designed to get the ball downfield through the air. The secondary must be ready for this. The coaches need to be ready for it too. If you force Campbell to throw underneath all game he WILL make mistakes. The front 7 keys on McFadden, the back 4 take away the bomb. I'm not sure what Oakland does defensively but I believe they are stout up the middle personnel-wise. We had some success at Arrowhead running off tackle between Bell and Levitre, that's something you'd want to continue. As always, if you can get the ground game working, you can use play action and that opens up the entire playbook and makes you near-impossible to defend if you execute. Gailey likes to come out spreading the field and firing, which then opens up the run and in turn activates play action. It'll be interesting to see how he comes out offensively this week.

Help settle a debate between myself and my family. My dad and brother seem to think Fitzpatrick has the least arm strength of the three, and that Flutie was the strongest. Am I out of my mind for thinking it's Fitz-Edwards-Flutie (exactly the opposite)? Edwards' arm (no pun intended to the poster with said handle!) to my memory was just strong enough to make all the throws an NFL passer needs to make, with Fitz' arm being just a bit stronger. Flutie I thought was the least strong of the three-- I remember a lot of his "deep" balls being fade routes to Moulds that would only travel 20-25 yards in the air. I don't think either Flutie or Edwards could have made the throw Fitz made last year against Pittsburgh that Stevie ultimately dropped. Mostly irrelevant to how good a quarterback these guys are overall, just would really like to know what you think purely about their arm strength. Please base it on where their arm strength was at the time that they were members of the Bills (not at Boston College, for example). GO BILLS!

I want a pass rushing OLB in the first or second round, value permitting. Merriman's health is altogether too critical to the defense right now, we need an athletic rusher on the other side. And even if Batten works out, Merriman's deal is finished after next season.

Other than Michael Vick, I'm with you.

Who ever said Evans was the Ravens #1 receiver? They have this Boldin guy you know. Not bad for a drunken purge, Kelly. I'd love to see Byrd play like this all year...three or four big tackles for us in the 1st quarter alone.

If I can get 3.0 or less I'm all over it, otherwise I'm letting it go. Just never know with this team

Thanks guys. I think we will see the personnel vary from week-to-week a lot this year. There's depth on this defense, more than 11 players who deserve (and will get) playing time, each with a little bit different skillset than anyone else. Edwards/Wanny will choose different weapons from their arsenal each week, tailored to beat the specific opponent. It's how a defense should operate and it's the depth in the front 7 and the experience and savvy of Wannstedt that makes it go. Will be interesting to watch!

I'm not sure that Florence-McKelvin-Williams can cover ANY three-receiver set in the league, lol. Great post though. Does anyone know just what we're doing with Bryan Scott, scheme-wise? By my calculation he wasn't even supposed to be on the field, at all, all game. Is he playing safety or linebacker? Who is exiting for him? Only noticed Andra Davis on the field a couple of times, surprising after he had such a strong preseason. Are we playing a 4-2-5 defense? Regardless, whatever role they have Scott in, it seems to be a perfect match for his skillset. He was phenomenal today.

Completely agree with you on this, Matt. NFL coaches review every play that their opponents have run, whether the game was in hand or not. My fear with the Wild Bill is that teams will load the box when they see Smith behind center and he won't have the ability to hurt 'em with his arm. Getting this play on tape was a good idea; you want to give Smith and the linemen a chance to find some room. K-9 is completely correct; when KC got that touchdown it was 20-7 and appeared as if the worm was ready to turn. But we came out and answered right back in the third to put the game away. Is this team learning how to win, after going 4-4 down the stretch last season?

I told my family that Bell was the biggest surprise of the afternoon for me, on a day bursting with pleasant surprises. As many have said, you didn't hear much from Hali despite Bell being isolated on him quite a bit. The even BIGGER surprise than that was seeing the way Demetrius went to work in the running game, observed him multiple times controlling his man and throwing key blocks to spring Captain Jackson. Even saw him get to the second level more than once and take LBs out of the play. An impressive performance from a guy I thought was a weak link-- lets hope he can maintain this level of play. Still concerned some with the right side of the line, though there was room for The Captain on the ground today, and he was spot on. I don't know how he (Freddy) spent the offseason but he is significantly better this year than last, and I hope he gets more recognition around the league. It's a good thing Gailey knows how to scheme around so-so pass pro and that the Amish One understands what needs to be done. But overall a much better performance from the guys up front than was expected!

Dave Wannstedt says, "Hello there, Harvey." Haley got those guys because of Pioli, by the way. Charlie Weiss and Romeo Crennel can pick and choose from a great number of different jobs when they go down to the coordinator level. It has nothing to do with Haley's "confidence in himself."

Pretty sure Jeremy's point was exactly the opposite of MD's. Jeremy said Whitner and Poz wanted to be here and MD said they did not. How is that the same? Personally my belief is that Poz wanted to be here and Whitner wanted to leave.

It's sad that Tim, along with so many faithful, long-suffering Bills fans won't be around to taste the day when the Bills make all of us scream out in pride. On that day I will take a moment to revisit this thought in my head. Much of my thought will center around what it will mean to my father, a Buffalo native and member of The Wall. My brother and I remember him as an optimistic "never give up" style fan in the 90s but bitterness has seen him slowly descend into bitching and whining all game, every game, about everything-- even when we're winning. I can't wait to feel the jubilation and share it with my family when that tremendous evening finally comes. My brother and Dad have always said we'd hop in the car and drive 9 hours for the rally so we could also share the moment with all of you. The only birthday wish I've ever made was for a Bills championship. Go Bills. And dammit, LET IT BE THIS YEAR!

Clearly you're not the only one. Look how many Bills fans are just HORRIFIED at the thought of a head coach who truly believes he can win. God forbid!

"He won't be able to see very well, Cotton."